Friday, September 30, 2011

Hi Everyone. Lisa here. Today I have a couple of layouts & cards to share using Websters 'Lets Celebrate'. In my last blog post, when I used this range - I focused mostly on the flowers. Today however, I am going to use the same range to show you some Birthday themed projects, still lots of flowers & prettiness to represent spring...

This first layout is of my children, on my daughter Emilys' 7th Birthday. I used the 'Surprise' paper from the range, which has gorgeous soft tones with some balloon images as a feature. I have used a set of 3 photos & chose to frame the main/central photo, to draw attention to it. Today I have used gathered white crepe paper & then layered that with crushed seam binding to create the frame. I also punched some cupcake images from a Websters paper pack that I had in my stash & added a pearl to each cupcake which I coloured with copics to get coordinating colours. I have also used twine, ink, mini alphas, doilies & journal tag. I used a spica (glitter) pen to highlight some details (not sure if you can see this in the photos).

For my next layout I have used the 'Wrapping Paper' piece of paper from the Let's Celebrate range. This paper has gorgeous flower filled cupcakes on it. I have scrapped some more photos of my daughter Emily on her 7th Birthday. I have captured moments in time where she had far less inhibitions than she does now - being a teenager! Giggling away, just happy to be herself. I used a large pink paper doily as the basis of my page. I then layered it with more doilies and added a Websters fabric strip. I made a frame (again) for my central photo using card stock which I inked the edges of & added a punched border using one of my Martha Stewart Punches. This particular punch is great as you can thread your ribbon through it. I have also added a sparklet, mini paper bloom, my spica (glitter) pen and stickles.

I also have some cards to share today using the same range. I used images from the 'Your'e Invited' paper. I cut my chosen images down to size to suit my cards. I also cut the title/sentiments from the same paper. I added some punched borders, pearls strands, seam binding ribbon, string, doilies, spica pen, flowers & mini paper blooms.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Hi everyone Christine here with some Spring/Farm Layouts to share.
Living on a Dairy Farm Spring is a very busy time for me, I am in charge of calf rearing! When the weather is good I love it, but if its wet then it can get mucky! So this Lo is of me!

When we first started Dairy farming 25 years ago, 2 of my nephews - they were teenagers - use to come in the August school holidays and help out on the farm for 3 weeks. Now their children come for farm visits to see the calves and the cows being milked.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Nic Howard (NZ's top scrapping talent and Prima Design Team member for many years) has offered Artfull Crafts her "That's my Boy" and "Prima-licious the Sequel" layout kits. Liz Gregory will be teaching the classes at the shop on the 8th of October. We will be running our monthly Saturday Craftathon that day (10am - 10pm), and there will an opportunity for 14 ladies able to take advantage of these 2 classes (4 layouts), pizza dinner and access to the craftathon.

Following hot on the heels of the super popular ‘Prima-licious’, a class which Nic taught to over a thousand students, comes ‘Prima-licious, the sequel!’

Paper, ink, flowers and clusters of embellishments, the kind that make you look at the detail of a layout again and again, let's get creating! We'll start with the simple paper curling technique work through inking, layering and ways to achieve perfect cluster embellishing. Discover how easy it is to create something so visually effective – and learn techniques to help you create similar beautiful clusters of embellishments again and again.

Nic Howard has put together the perfect boy layout class just for you! Celebrate that boy in your life, whether it is son, brother, hubby or friend, this class will suit them all. Interesting techniques and bright colours combine to make two layouts in class with enough supplies and a sketch for a third layout!

Photos Layout 1: Two small photos, landscape orientation. Nic has used two B & W photos that measure 4 x 2.5”. You could also use two 4 x 3” photos. This is a fairly neutral layout with splashes of light blue and red.

Photo Layout 2: One 4 x 6” photo, portrait orientation. Preferably of a boy in your life, if you don’t have one, a pic of a favourite guy. Most colours will work with this layout.
What to bring:
General Tool kit including trimmer, scissors, pencil, ruler, general paper adhesive, foan pop dots, baby wipes, glue dots, adhesive suitable for adhering transparency, i.e. clear tape runner, browny/charcoal inks, paintbrush or thin dowel to wind paper around, paper Piercer/awl, Stazon Black ink if you have it (we can share if you don’t have one), Glossy accents or Dimensional magic if you have it, waterbrush, sandpaper and wirecutters.
Please note: Measurements in Nic's class are given in inches, so bring an appropriate ruler.

One of the really great things about babies is watching them enjoy new experiences and making new discoveries. It's like rediscovering things that you had forgotten are so totally amazing. Like they say "A child makes all things new again".

Anyway this layout celebrates the simple pleasure of working in the garden. Enjoying an hour or so of sun and fresh air after what seems like a long winter and finally getting out there to prepare the veggie patch.

Recently my daughter went off shopping and hubbie decided to tidy up the garden - assisted by young Miss L. Pity he didn't have the presence of mind to dress madam in something more appropriate. I'm sure most people would pull on some gumboots and old jeans and not a pale pink ensemble!

By the time son-in-law realized what was going on, it was too late. Bless his little cotton socks, for instead of rushing madam into the house for a clean up and hiding the evidence before "She Who Must Be Obeyed" returned (and knowing how much a scrapbooking granny would have enjoyed this moment) he reached for the camera instead.. Happy Happy Day!

After I had finished the layout, I decided to look through my quotes folder for something about Spring and I found this:

"In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt" (Margaret Atwood)

[Note to Self: next time why don't you check the Quotes Folder BEFORE you do the layout!]

And so here we have it, Miss L discovering the feel, the smell (and taste I suspect) of dirt.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

It's Sandy posting more Cosmo Cricket Odds and Ends projects. This time I'm going with a cerise and turquoise colour palette.

The fresh, clean colours on this card look yummy. I couldn't resist staging it on a plate with a spoon for photography. The little candy swirls and baker's twine all come together to form what looks like a delectable desert to me.

A beautiful crochet mat formed the base of this tag. My friend Jessi sent me a bunch of mats all the way from Canada. They work perfectly with the trademark circles from the Odds and Ends collection. If you're keen to make a mat, hop over to her blog where she has a tutorial for it.

As promised in yesterday's post, this is the twin to my Faith tag. It features another elegant cameo from Dusty Attic. On her, I applied a subtle niagara mist chalk and dressed her chignon with half pearls. Then I wrapped a jaunty green scarf round her neck. To fancy up the tag, I sewed little french knots inside the half-circles of the border.

Hope I've been able to show you the versatility of Odds and Ends. Combined it with Upcycle chipboards, it takes on a retro feel. When paired with Dusty Attic cameos, it becomes classic and elegant.A truely fun collection to work with.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Hi everyone, this is Sandy sharing some spring-inspired projects. I chose blues and greens from Cosmo Cricket's Odds and Ends collection to create these cards and tags.

The starting point for this card is a green label from the Sampler paper. I folded it in half to make a sort of handle. When added to a journal card, I got a cute baby's rattle shape which was accentuated with a soft pink bow. A little sparklet on an acrylic tag and three uplifting sentiment phrases complete the card.

Mostly I make my cards from inside out, meaning I start from the center elements. However I wanted to use a MME button card as the base of this card so I created from outside in. I had to make a rectangle that would fit inside the card and hide the holes where the buttons were attached. A few journal cards and chipboards layered together worked nicely. The card has a homespun charm that I couldn't have produced if I used cardstock for the base.

The focal point for this tag is an elegant Dusty Attic cameo. I gave her a soft coating of bamboo ink and spritzed on some sweet clover mist. Then dressed her hair with a ball of white thread gathered with three half pearls. Doesn't she look chic ?

Hope you'll drop by tomorrow when I'll be posting more Odds and Ends projects : including the twin to my Faith tag.

Product PickThis week our Product Pick just HAS to be the stunning new Bonjour Collection from Kaisercraft. You can currently pre-order this collection at a 10% discount and I'll let you into a little secret - we already have it IN THE SHOP! Take a look at these amazing samples using the collection.
All of these images are from the Kaisercraft Workshop Magazine which can be seen online here. (NOTE: It is a large file and will take a long time to download if you do not have decent broadband!)

Kaisercraft has some amazingly talented people working with them - including of course our own Betsy Clark who had 2 gorgeous cards published in the magazine. I will leave it to her to show you these later in the month...

Challenge
You still have one more week to enter our current Challenge!

☼♫☺SPRING HAS SPRUNG ☼♫☺

As always the theme is designed to be VERY broad - anything goes so break out the floral paper and make something bright and cheery to herald the arrival of the warmer seasons..

We know a lot of you love to use the Sketch for inspiration, so here is the one from this month from Tanya at Little Shop of Sketches.

This sketch offers heaps in the way of inspiration - what will you do with those stripes and flowers - we can't wait to see!

Entering the Challenge
Your entry to the challenge can be either along our theme of "Spring has Sprung" OR it can be using the sketch OR of course it can be both! To enter the challenge - send a picture of your project to us. You can send us as many entries as you like. We will be featuring all entries at the end of the Challenge and you can find all the entries on our Competition Gallery.Winner
The winner for commenting on the latest releases (as seen here) is Kate McKay who commented on our Facebook page. "Love it!! so nice to see purple paper for a change!!!"Kate - please email me at lowri.mcnabb@artfullcrafts.co.nzLowri :-)

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Hi Everyone, Lisa here. Today I am sharing some projects made with some gorgeous Websters Papers. I have used the "Let's Celebrate" range. For me, Websters spells prettiness and shabby chic all in one. If you haven't played with Websters papers before I hope my projects may inspire you to have a go.

First up today - I have a layout of my children enjoying a cup of tea, in fine bone china. These photos were taken at a Bed & Breakfast that we went to a few years ago, for my birthday. It was a very special weekend, the table was all set up for a beautiful family breakfast. The gorgeous floral borders on this paper 'Garden Party" do most of the work for you. I continued the theme by sticking with a few main colours (Pinks, cream/yellow & greens) throughout the layout so it blends well & doesn't get too busy. A couple of layered, punched borders, careful photo placement, a tissue paper flower, journal cards, pearls, mini paper blooms, leaves, pins,string, mini alphas & fozz felt title to decorate.

A close up of some of the detail. To make a tissue paper flower punch about 8-10 circles out of tissue paper. It's great to use varying sizes. I used 2 large, 4 medium & 4 small. Layer them on top of each other and push a brad through the centre. Scrunch the layers up until you have the desired look.

Next up today I have made a card using the 'Party blooms' paper. I cut the desired piece from the top left corner of this gorgeous paper (sacrilege I know...lol) to use as the basis of my card. You will be amazed how many cards you can make from the images on just one of these pieces of paper. Flowers being the theme of this card ...Blooming with Sweetness, I got my Tim Holtz paper rosette die out. As I was going for a really bold & special card I decided to play with the die cut flower a bit to create some more dimension. This is what I came up with. I made the flower as per the instructions, leaving off the front centre piece. I then inserted a large brad to the centre & had my hot glue ready to go. Holding the flower in my hand, I pushed the sides up & place hot glue underneath to hold in place. I hope you like it! Its pretty out there but it really makes the card special. I also used ink, a punched border, some string, seam binding bow, doily, paper bloom, a piece of rhinestone flourish, leaves and mini paper blooms.

Here is a close up of the flower made with the rosette die.

After making a layout or cards there is always scraps..isn't there? Well since I had already cut up the gorgeous 'Party Blooms' paper I decided to use some of the other pretty floral images to make some co-ordinating tags. These tags were so quick & easy to make! I cut the shapes using my Spellbinders Nestabilities. You can use any shape or punch. I placed the die on the image carefully using removable tape to hold in place (so the die doesn't move when cutting in cuttlebug). I then punched holes in the top of the tags, stamped sentiments, added string, crushed seam binding ribbon, mini paper blooms & pearls.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Well - another week has gone (somewhere?!) and I missed a post I was supposed to do this week. I will be completely honest and say things have been so crazy with school, rugby, kids etc etc that I have no excuse!

SO - seeing as we have some wonderful new followers I would recap on a couple of GREAT ideas we featured in the last 18 months or so!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hi Christine here with some cards and a punch technique for you to try.

First up is a Spring card (only because Tilda is holding chickens!)

The 2nd card is a similar layout. I have made the circle borders using the Martha Stewart Layered Arches Border Punch. Just love making these to lay across my cards, I can add pearls or rhinestones to the centres for a nice effect too.
Here is a tutorial for you to follow on how I go about making these borders. If you don't have this punch perhaps you can try it with another border punch.

Then I had to see what could be created with the Layered Arches corner punch.
On this card the black border has been made using the Layered Arches Corner Punch.

Here is a tutorial for you to try to make one of these borders. Hope you can follow it , the distance between the markings is 1 1/8 inches. You are also working from the wrong side (so you can see the punch outline) so the markings wont show when you are finished.

Monday, September 19, 2011

... and I don't just mean the weather! I hope you're loving all the inspiration the new DT are giving you. I sure am! However, with all the moving we're doing (still!) I haven't exactly been doing much crafting. We did enjoy a day at Fairlie on Saturday - teaching cards to 22 keen ladies. It was a sunny Spring day and we created a selection of cards (male, Christmas, floral etc) and it was great.

I forgot to take photos of the cards we made (oops!) so instead I thought I'd share with you the cards that we will be making at this Wednesday's card class. We're going to create some Christmas themed cards - the ladies are keen to get their cards made and sent away before the springy weather brings their gardens to life. I don't mind creating Christmas cards at this time of the year anyway. To me the message of Christ coming to earth to ultimately pay our sin-debt is worth celebrating everyday!!

Card One - Criss Cross Card. I found an excellent tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers on how to create these cards. There is a postcard styled card inside - so the card acts as a type of open envelope.

Card Two - diagonal cut. I've just cut a corner off the card and trimmed it with border punch and some leafy garland. The stamped sentiment is from the new CC Designs Stamps we restocked last week. This set is really lovely and is called Christmas Card Verses. There are 13 thoughtful verses mounted on ez-foam that cling to your acrylic block or handle.

I've used the new Simple Stories collection called 25 Days of Christmas. I think that this new company have amazing designers and this collection is really very very well designed and the quailty of the papers is outstanding. With that in mind, I teamed the papers with some nice Bazzill colours (Brick, Lizard and Sawdust), some new leafy garland ribbon from Green Tara (red, olive, silver and gold are being loaded online this week), new Manor House green leaves, my favourite Parisian Accent Spellbinders, a Martha punch and last but not least the Spellbinders Nested Poinsettia. To be honest this die is one of my all time favourites. If you don't have this die then you'd better get in quickly to the shop. I have secured the last 7 in the country - and they are a deleted item. I've purchased another one so I can have one at home and one at the shop!!

Did you know you can cut through felt with the Spellbinders dies? My favourite trick is to use this die with red felt and layer the flowers. Why don't you try that at home? This week we'll be loading some new Christmas coloured felt packs on the website - so keep your eye out for them! I'll do a felt tutorial another day.